Gender Bias In To Kill A Mockingbird

In the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Jem, one of the main characters makes assumptions about how his sister, Scout should behave based on the expectations of women in the south. Due to his southern upbringing Jem Finch, similar to other characters in the novel, makes presumptions about how his sister should act. [lead into this] “I swear Scout, sometimes you act so much like a girl it’s mortifyin’ (sic)” In this quotation Jem begins to make Scout feel that being a girl is a fault and that Scout would be better off behaving like a boy, a theme that is continuous throughout the book. Although Jem is more of a protagonist than an antagonist he still imposes his gender bias. In this passage Scout thinks through her decisions while